Love Lobbies to Be Next U.S. Ryder Cup Golf Captain

Oct. 6 (Bloomberg) -- It took Davis Love III just two days
to add his name to the list of those wanting to be the 2012 U.S.
Ryder Cup captain.

“I definitely want to be a captain,” Love said during a
press conference today in St. Simons Island, Georgia, where he
is hosting and playing in the U.S. PGA Tour’s McGladrey Classic.
“If they talk to me about it, I’ll be excited about it.”

Love served as an assistant captain on the losing U.S. team
in Wales this month and has played in the biennial competition
between the U.S. and Europe six times. His last appearance as a
player came in 2004.

While Love, 46, said walking alongside U.S. players at
Celtic Manor gave him the urge to try to qualify as a player for
the 2012 competition at Medinah Country Club in Illinois, he
wouldn’t pass up the chance to be captain in favor of playing.

“If you asked me two months ago, I’d have said no, I don’t
want to take any chance on screwing up playing,” said Love, who
has a 9-12-5 record as a player. “But now I look at it, I don’t
want to take any chances on not getting to be the Ryder Cup
captain.”

The PGA of America, which oversees the U.S. team, has no
specific timeframe on selecting its next captain.

Corey Pavin, this year’s U.S. captain, was appointed to the
post two months after the U.S. defeated Europe in the 2008
matches at Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, Kentucky.

As an assistant on this year’s team, Love said the most
difficult part about being captain wouldn’t be deciding on which
clothes the team would wear or who to select as his wild card
picks. Having to give speeches to the players during the matches
is his biggest fear.

Speeches Troubling

“I’m good at crying when something’s special, and I think
it would be hard for me to handle the standing-up-in-front-of-people part of it,” Love said. “Organizing the towels and the
rain suits and all that kind of stuff, I’ve got a good handle
on.”

The only thing possibly holding him back from taking the
job, if offered, would be the opinions of other players, Love
said.

“That’s what it boils down to,” he said. “If the players
want me to be the captain, then I want it. If I get a sense that
they want somebody else, then I wouldn’t do it.”

To contact the reporter on this story:
Michael Buteau in St. Simons Island, Georgia at mbuteau@bloomberg.net